Musadiq Malik: ‘Those hands will be chopped off’: Pakistan minister issues stern warning to India over Indus Waters Treaty
Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadiq Malik issued a fresh warning to India over the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, saying: “It has been announced that whoever touches our water will have their hands chopped off.His remarks came as New Delhi continues to put the treaty on hold following the April 22 incident. Pahalgam terror attack.The minister’s video, broadcast by Pakistan’s ARY news channel, was widely shared on social media.Furthermore, Attaullah Tarar, information minister of neighboring countries, without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly, said: “There is a tap controlled by the prime ministers of neighboring countries. He said he would not let a drop of water flow into Pakistan. ” Dawn newspaper quoted him as saying. He added that the treaty cannot be revoked “unilaterally” by one country.Last year, Prime Minister Modi declared that “terror and negotiation cannot coexist, and water and blood cannot coexist.”minister of defense Rajnath Singh India has recently made it clear that it has no intention of softening its stance.“After the Pahalgam terror attack, we said by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty that those whose tears have dried up should not expect water from us. We will not let the waters of Sindh fall into the hands of patrons of terrorists and enemies of humanity,” he said.Pakistan is facing a growing water crisis that is affecting its key agricultural regions. Water shortages are worsening in parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, raising fears of what local officials and farmers are calling “economic carnage” as irrigation supplies are reduced.The crisis is most evident around the Sukkur Dam, one of Pakistan’s largest irrigation hubs on the Indus River that supports millions of acres of farmland in parts of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, Dawn reported. Canal water shortages have reached serious levels, with the Northwest Canal experiencing a water shortage of 64.1%, the Rice Canal suffering a water shortage of 38%, and the Dadu Canal experiencing a water shortage of 82%, threatening crops, livelihoods, and regional economies. The situation is further exacerbated by accusations of over-abstraction and uneven distribution of water upstream, with Sindh accusing Punjab of withdrawing more than its allocated share, while downstream regions continue to bear the brunt of water shortages.
